AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Position Trimmed by Crescent Sterling Ltd.

Crescent Sterling Ltd. trimmed its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 19,692 shares of the company’s stock after selling 830 shares during the quarter. AbbVie comprises 3.6% of Crescent Sterling Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Crescent Sterling Ltd.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $3,499,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. GGM Financials LLC grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. GGM Financials LLC now owns 6,895 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,362,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc boosted its position in AbbVie by 0.3% in the third quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 18,102 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,575,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Dillon & Associates Inc. grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 0.8% during the third quarter. Dillon & Associates Inc. now owns 6,914 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,362,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.8% during the second quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,187,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Citizens Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. First Citizens Financial Corp now owns 5,777 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,141,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AbbVie Trading Down 1.9 %

NYSE ABBV opened at $175.18 on Monday. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $153.58 and a one year high of $207.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $178.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $184.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $309.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. AbbVie’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.95 EPS. Research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.96 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 227.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABBV has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on AbbVie from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered shares of AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,202,751.92. The trade was a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AbbVie Profile

AbbVie Inc discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells pharmaceuticals worldwide. The company offers Humira, an injection for autoimmune and intestinal Behçet's diseases, and pyoderma gangrenosum; Skyrizi to treat moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, psoriatic disease, and Crohn's disease; Rinvoq to treat rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, atopic dermatitis, axial spondyloarthropathy, ulcerative colitis, and Crohn's disease; Imbruvica for the treatment of adult patients with blood cancers; Epkinly to treat lymphoma; Elahere to treat cancer; and Venclexta/Venclyxto to treat blood cancers.